All states are "authoritarian" in that they are all tools by which the ruling class dominates the others. The working classes controlling a state still wield its authority to dominate capitalists, fascists, landlords, etc, but this use of authority liberates the majority. The authority question is therefore not a question of amount, but in whose hands, the working classes or capitalists.

Gonna repost myself but authoritarianism is difficult for libs to define because any serious understanding of the concept reveals it to be a tool for propaganda rather than understanding politics

Authoritarianism is when the government does stuff.